Category: Politics

The Clinton Foundation a non-profit charitable organization was founded by former US President Bill Clinton in 1997. The foundation by the year 2016 has raised an estimated $2 billion from US corporations, political donors, various other groups and individuals and even from foreign governments and corporations. Their sources of funds have always been a source of controversy. The Clinton Foundation is more so in the limelight with Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Presidential candidate.

Bill Clinton says that over the past 18 years there have been thousands of donors who gave to the foundation. While there may have been some donors who tried to gain influence with the Clinton family it does not imply that the donors may have received any inappropriate favors. Being political figures it was but natural that friends and allies requested favors but the State Department has done nothing out of bounds as stated by Bill Clinton.

There have been rising concerns over the functioning of the Clinton Foundation if Hillary Clinton were to step up as the next President of the United States this November. The issue has been placated by Bill Clinton in this week’s Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting where he promised to step away completely from the foundation if Hillary gets elected. Clinton Global Initiative is a part of the Clinton Foundation. The Clinton Foundation has provided premium global charity services with affordable medicines, economic opportunities and healthy food worldwide.

The issue being to evaluate the candidacy of each of the candidates in the upcoming US Presidential elections, Hillary Clinton has been pushed through the eye of the needle. Bill Clinton highly commends her strength and integrity. While there have been questions raised on communications between the Clinton Foundation and State Department while Hillary Clinton was in charge. The claims suggest that the foundation staff asked for various meetings and passing of job prospects on behalf of donors, there has been no proof to establish any favors having been performed against standing U.S. Policy.

The ISIS is now recruiting a new brand of Jihadists with a criminal record. The suicide bombers in Brussels and those of the November 2015 Paris attack were ex-convicts. Two of the suicide bombers in Brussels were brothers of which one had been convicted of assault and bank robbery while the other was involved in a carjacking. These new ISIS recruits are both gangsters and terrorists. The Lantin Prison is one of Belgium’s largest prisons meant to serve as a short stay prison for those awaiting trial or sentencing. It is said by the Brussel investigators that it was here in the prison walls that Ibrahim el-Bakraoui was transformed from a criminal to a violent Jihadist.

Massay an ex-social worker who became a prison guard 5 years ago states his observation in the French prisons. Being a gentle and empathetic person he can identify those radical prisoners who try to radicalize inmates by imparting that they are being mistreated. Massay qualified his Master’s degree in criminology and focuses on terrorism, radicalization and school bullying. He can identify these elements by the choice of books they read and recommend to fellow inmates and sometimes even to other prison guards. Prison guards are expected to report incidents of radicalization but most fail to distinguish between radicalization and a person merely trying to rediscover religion.

Luk Vervat a prison reform activist who taught Dutch and English in Belgian prisons says that discrimination is the root cause of radicalization and people turning to terrorism. A person even if born in Belgium has brown skin, is discriminated as a foreigner. Brussels has very little jobs to offer and employers usually hire people who look like they belong together. Minority communities for lack of socio-economic security turn to criminal activities like drug dealing and cigarette sales. It is said that Ibrahim Abdeslam a suicide bomber in the November Paris attack met one of the main attack plotters, Abdelhamid Abaaoud in Prison.

Three powerful Asian countries saw their leaders meet for their first summit in several years held in Seoul. This meeting of the three powerful Asian countries Japan, China and South Korea in itself was a huge accomplishment. A Chinese artist and a South Korean artist worked together to unveil a statue of great significance in the Seoul Park a few days before the arrival of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The work is a bronze statue of 2 young girls, one Chinese and the other Korean with their hands clenched in their laps. The work represents that many Chinese and Korean women who were forced into sex slavery for Japanese soldiers during WW II.

According to the artists, this work intended to raise their voice for the many Asian women who suffered during the war and the fact has been repeatedly denied by history revisionists. The sentiment is shared by citizens in South Korea who continue to press for apologies on behalf of the army to address the aggressions of the past. Japan claims that the said issue was resolved in the 1965 treaty to normalize relations between the countries. The relationship between Japan and South Korea is still rocky and there have been very poor measures to bridge the differences. This meeting is a first attempt at friendship between the allies.

U.S. looks forward to the summit where Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the South Korean President Park Geun-Hye will meet for the very first time since they came into power. The summit is a hopeful beginning to address common issues over the years to come. The three nations have a lot in common and their economies are interdependent.